Rosepoint Publishing

Death Unmasked – Review

Genre: Currently at Amazon’s Best Seller’s Rank #4837 in Books, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Supernatural

Publisher: Christopher Matthews Publishing

Publication Date: November, 2015

Submitted by author for review

The title Death Unmasked could be descriptive of the topic. The cover ties to the coat involved in the story, but doesn’t readily explain the book subject.

Interesting plot premise (reincarnation) and a subject that fascinates me. I also read and enjoy paranormal novels and really wanted to love this book as well. Rick Sulik apparently has an affinity for poetry and offers his thoughtful expressions of life intertwined within the plot of his book. His poetry ranged from pensive to beautiful. The subject and the plot have a great potential.

The book begins with a heinous scene reflective of the horrors inflicted on citizens by the Germans during WW2, that of the cruel death of married lovers; Laura is first raped, then murdered, and Emil vows retribution before his death.

Now to present day Houston Police Detective, single Sean Jamison, who is burned out at 57 years of age and reclusive. He is busy pining for his one true love, and involved in the investigation of a crazed serial killer who likes to leave the haunting line from the “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” by Oscar Wilde, “Yet each man kills the thing he loves,” as a token taunt at the scene of his sadistic murders.

That’s the simple part and that’s where simple ends. Sean Jamison, the first and main protagonist, climbs on his soap box rather often. He has realized through several happenstances that this is not his first life and that his last life ended horribly cruel. His partner, Bill Roman, is a candidate for anger management. His captain, Virginia Schaeffer, is a really horny (middle-aged?) single woman who suddenly and inexplicably falls in mad, over-the-top passionate love (after one heart-to-heart) with Sean, who is saving himself for his previous wife who he feels is now living a present day existence as well. If only he could find her! Are you confused yet?

Bill Roman is taking psychic lessons from Sean, though initially scoffs at the suggestion, and helps to find and apprehend a felon. He will try to use the same power later to help catch the antagonist, the serial killer (who previously kidnapped his wife).

But wait–there’s more: spoiler alert! The serial killer has noticed a flea-market coat that has a particular significance for him, and marks the coat so he can track the new owner. Uh oh! The new owner of the coat, coincidentally, may be connected to Sean’s previous life’s wife.

When he does find his wife from another life, they throw caution to the wind and enjoy a rather public tryst, forgetting his wife from another life has a current day fiancée. In his mind, he has found his wife, his life, and his family. But if she’s still his contemporary, I’d wager that’s too late.

Another spoiler alert: Some of these people are all connected, and I mean brother and sister connected, in previous lives. And the serial killer? You’ll just have to read it–or maybe you already know.

The dialogue ran stilted at times, preachy (and unrealistic); and the characters were inconsistently fleshed out. I had a little problem with the continuity, with scene jumping, or contradictory timing of day/night. Descriptions ran a little on the verbose side bordering on TMI.

This book will benefit greatly by a critical eye for cut, slash, and rework as the idea is solid–it should work better.

The Author: Rick Sulik served in the US Air Force Military Police prior to working with the Houston and Pasadena Texas Police Departments, followed by ten years as a courthouse bailiff. He retired in 2013.

Is It Time To Dump Smashwords For Kindle?

I gave up on Smashwords this week.

Their Wide Variety of Formats

I’ve monitored my stats almost every day since I downloaded the first manuscript for my grandfather back in 2012–and the stats are dismal. At the time, Smashwords seemed like a good addition to my marketing plan when I published with Amazon and their Kindle site. If you aren’t already aware of Smashwords, they publish and make available ebooks bestowing freedom to authors to set their own prices. Smashwords further makes available your digital downloads to Nook (Barnes & Noble), Apple IBooks, Scribd, Oyster, and Kobo, and allows downloads in EPUB, PDF, and MOBI formats.

It’s not as if they aren’t busy trying to help promote their authors and introduce them to new readers. When writing this post, they were currently running (July 1 – July 31) their annual Summer/Winter Sale. In view of the complete lack of activity (probably not their fault) on any of my listings, I declined to join the sale. They keep up dialog in their “Site Updates” as well as “Press Releases” in which they recently noted Smashwords and Publishers Weekly joined to launch an ebook best seller’s list.

Free Downloads

I have to hand it to Mark Coker. It is not as if he hasn’t tried getting some of us off the sidelines. His free downloads, “Smashwords Style Guide” and “The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success” are comprehensive and indispensable for an Indie author as the publishing format on Smashwords is neither as easy nor forgiving as Kindle.

Spoiler Alert: You have to sell at least $10.00 in royalties to warrant payment. After the first blush of sales were over, I was still under that amount and will apparently carry the embarrassing sale record to infinity. This is no small entity. They are dynamic; have published over 416,638 books in all genres with over 65,000 of those books free.

So, what’s a mother to do? Guess it’s time to begin a new campaign!

Editorial Reviews

It all began this week with a review for a new author buddy of mine who introduced me to a couple nifty little Amazon website author page opt-ins I hadn’t previously noticed. Sometimes, you just have to hit me upside the head! Carlyle Clark, author of Children From Dark Houses, immediately included in his “Editorial Reviews” a couple sentences from my recent review of his book. Those Editorial Reviews show up prominently near the top of the book information. It succinctly brings to the surfer’s attention pertinent blurbs from your reviews. I loved it!

Reviewers Information

Also, I got to looking at (Amazon) Reviewers information. As I mentioned before, I’ve been receiving many requests for reviews. Therefore, the time came for me to expand my reviewer information and add a link to connect me from Amazon. Learning new stuff is exciting, isn’t it? Ah, but as seniors sometimes tend to do, I digress.

So then, what was the whole point of “unpublishing” my books from Smashwords? Have I succumbed to KDP? It’s just easier. Smashwords didn’t make sense for my little books and having that link also limited some promotional abilities from Amazon. I needed Amazon more.

Children from Dark Houses-Review

Children from Dark Houses by Carlyle Clark

Genre: Currently #262 in Best Sellers Rank for African American, Mystery, Thriller and Suspense

Publisher: Branch & Crane

Publication Date: June, 2016

Submitted by author for review

Children from Dark Houses is a title that will hint at the plot and seals suspicions with the cover.

The book will introduce you to two new and unusual PI’s, Atticus Wynn and Rosemary Sanchez, a duo unaccountably made for each other. While their personalities may be 180 degrees apart, these are opposites that work well! Carlyle Clark spares no one, poking fun at Atticus, as well as most of the remaining characters in the book. And characters there are! While the patter from Atticus is just a bit over the top in the beginning, the dialogue evolves as the unique plot develops into good natured humor along with his delightful incite and observation of people.

Atticus and Rosemary are hired to find Imran Khan, who has run away from an exclusive reform school by his unhappy and volatile parents, Habeeb and Heena, who would rather not draw either the attention of the police or a lot of notoriety into their extremely lucrative and organized network of moving money. (The reader is introduced to the term “Hawala,” finally giving a name to a previously known but unnamed system of money laundering.

Imran’s main squeeze, Sebellia, is a nasty lady with a crude and vicious “cousin,” Eiger. Sebellia has connections with an outlaw biker gang, the Demon Dogs (who are another whole story unto themselves), and it becomes obvious that Atticus and Rosemary have a tiger by the tail. Included with the other colorful characters, Mawroo the cat, who periodically adds his own “cat condescension” to the scene.

Here are protagonists you come to love to love and antagonists you love to see they get what is coming to them. Believable dialogue, non-stop action, surprises and fun along the way. I received this book in exchange for a review. I think this author is off to a terrific start and he has a series that will keep his readers looking for the next installment.

Carlyle Clark should know about cats–he has two along with a dog. Married and a Chicagolander, Clark is also an avid sportsman and martial arts enthusiast.

Rosepoint Rating based on the correction of current edit errors:

Twelve Points for Review Submission

Most new Indie authors believe reviews are the make or break of a book and aggressively pursue them.

There are numerous articles on the algorithm Amazon uses to determine Best Sellers Rank. While it is generally considered to be reviews that help to get you to the top of the pack, it isn’t, according to what I’ve read. Amazon won’t disclose its algorithm, but will readily agree that good reviews do seem to help drive sales, which IS the major contributory factor in Best Sellers Rank.

I’ve written before on reviews, discussing whether or not 300 five-star ratings are really all bogus or not. Having written and posted 1,000s of reviews myself, I’ve always strived for honesty, striking a balance between what I liked about the book as well as what I didn’t. The books I review are a mix of Indie books, as well as best-selling authors, and posted those reviews whether the author needed them or not. In addition, in an effort to accommodate a larger variety of genres, I got the CE involved in reading and giving me his synopsis. That also becomes a review.

Reviews can run anywhere from a short informal paragraph or an in-depth analysis of the book of more than 500 words detailing not only the description of the plot but a critical view of how the topic was handled. Point being: Did you agree with the observations or challenge every posture? I’ve developed the following twelve points in the submission of my reviews.

My reviews include:

1 Whether or not the title reflects the topic of the book.

2 Did the cover convey the genre; show you what the book is about without your having to read the blurb?

3 Was the setting properly introduced–did you know where it was located geographically or what year it was?

4 Did the opening chapter grab your attention and did the plot hold your interest throughout the remainder of the book?

5 Is the dialogue believable, natural, or forced?

6 Are the characters properly fleshed out? Can you identify or connect with them?

7 Did the protagonist and antagonist convey a strong opposing emotion?

8 Are the same scenes repeated, albeit with slightly different wording, until you “heard it all before.”

9 Is the plot unique? Is the book outside your normal genre?

10 Did the story end with a plausible climax, wrapping up the loose ends to a satisfying degree, or suddenly end when it appears the author is over-the-top tired of the whole thing.

11 Is it full of typos, edit errors, misused words, missing words, or extra words that should have been deleted from the final edit?

12 Can you honestly recommend the book? Can the book be recommended outside the reader’s normal genre?

Review Format

Since I have been receiving review requests, I thought it was time to change the way I post the reviews. Therefore, after the blurb and review, the format will be changed to reflect additional information about the author, the genre, the publisher, and the date published, followed by the review. The review will be posted on this blog as well as on Amazon and Goodreads. Many of the books are received through NetGalley and most reviews are also shared on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Dog Days of Summer

There is a reason we call our dogs our “fur kids.”

Frosty-a Bichon Frise

We love them almost as much as our own. We have a tendency to anthropomorphize them because they seem to connect so tightly to us; intuitive to our emotions and moods. I’ve posted pictures of my own little girl dog, Frosty, on this blog before. Like posting pictures of your children, you can’t help it because they are so “doggone” cute.

They are so much a part of us (for over 30,000 years now) that we have “dog days of summer” activities with them. Better let them run and play now because it won’t be long before we’ll be sharing a “three dog night” as winter chills down. Uh oh, and there are many more fun doggy expressions, like these few: Every Dog Has Its Day, It’s Raining Cats and Dogs, Work Like a Dog.

Sleepy Frost I sincerely try to follow Cesar Millan’s knowledgeable posts and admonish my excited little (10 year old) pup when she sees me grabbing my purse to be “calm, submissive” before I’ll take her anywhere. Cesar is a fount of information re all things canine and continually drives home his formula for successfully “balanced” dogs:

First-Exercise–Then

Discipline-and Lastly

Love

Kristen Lamb’s Blog-Writer’s Resource

If you haven’t stumbled across Kristen Lamb’s Blog, I’ll provide you with a treat today. This entry was posted on July 25th and particularly caught my eye as my attention to my FB fan page is woefully slow. Topical and current:

Breaking Facebook Dependence—How to Create an Enduring Author Brand

Kristen is a Writer’s Digest Award Winner for the 101 Best Website for Writers and 2013 winner for the Top 10 Blogs for Writers and best selling author. Moreover, she is quite attractive. Enjoy!

Hail, Caesar” – Supreme Satire

Hail, Caesar! You probably know me better by the book reviews I frequently post. I really love reading and take most requests, happy to return a truthful review. Today, I’ll take a major departure and review a video we watched recently called “Hail, Caesar.” Released February, 2016, you’ll either love it or won’t like it at all. I did–my two guys didn’t. Hubby slept through it; no contest as he can sleep through most anything. Son called it a bore. NOT.

Taking place back in the 50s heyday of Hollywood, Eddie Mannix (played supremely low key by Josh Brolin) is an savvy movie exec trying to handle all the problems of both his actors and film producers at Capitol Pictures. Today he is tackling a disgruntled director, a singing cowboy, Tobey (played adorably by Alden Ehrenreich), an Esther Williams type synchonized swimmer, and a handsome dancer. Mannix sneaks an occasional cigarette though he promised his wife he’d quit, and seeks forgiveness numerous times from a priest who tells him, “You’re really not that bad, my son. You don’t need to confess this often.” Continue reading “Hail, Caesar” – Supreme Satire”

Pokémon GO Is Serious Exercise

Pikachu Melanie cocked her head just to the left and snatched a quick glance at me. “You know you are the oldest one here,” she whispered, “and I’m the next.”

As I gazed around at the jostling crowd pushing the traffic around Crown Point Square, I didn’t need to guess their ages. Of course, she was right. These were largely teenagers, sprinkled with pre-teens and an occasional millennial. “Yeah, I know.”

Later there was a man possibly in his 50’s walking with his son, his own smart phone in his hand beckoning us across the street. “We have the light, you know,” he called as he waved his arm at us. Traffic was heavy with vehicles making lefts in front of us, pedestrian crossing or no, in their hurry to get to the next PokéStop. It was pushing 10 pm on a fairly temperate Wednesday evening and Mel sighed, “I really didn’t expect this much traffic.” Continue reading “Pokémon GO Is Serious Exercise”